A well-equipped kitchen has a wide array of cookware. Storing these often-used items efficiently is a challenge faced by everyone. These storage ideas offer creative solution ideas for every kitchen; find the storage that will save you the most work and time.
First, remove all of your pots and pans from their current storage. Evaluate them for condition and usefulness. Do you have specialty pans you haven’t used in three years? Consider getting rid of them, or moving them to other storage space. Do you have pans that are rusting, losing their handles or suffer from permanent burn marks? It may be time to recycle them. Finally, do you have duplicates of sizes that are not really necessary? Maybe you know someone just starting a household who would love a good soup pan!
The Pan Cupboard
Cookware takes a large amount of cabinet space. Nesting pots and pans to conserve space often doesn’t work because some pans are the same size, the handles are in the way, and the pan you need is most often at the bottom of the nested pile. Some of these strategies may help you to keep your pots and pans tidy and accessible.
Put the ones you use in front: Most people probably use two to four pans more than all of the rest. Make sure the ones you use – likely a frying pan, a medium saucepan and a larger saucepan or Dutch oven – are right in front, easy to get to and un-nested.
One cabinet storage solution for pans is to store them on their sides. Placing them on their sides can be a more efficient use of shelf space, and has the added benefit of helping to keep dust from settling inside less used pans. Side storage is also a very good way to organize baking pans such as cookie sheets, jelly rolls and muffin tins.
Hanging Pots and Pans
A pot rack is a great way to create extra kitchen storage space. You can purchase or make a simple pot rack that allows you to hang pots and pans from hooks above your kitchen surfaces. Make sure you hang the rack where it will not impede movement of people or cabinet or appliance doors.
If you do not have room for a pot rack, but would like to hang some of your cookware, consider placing hooks on the outside of some of your cabinets. Or, for more storage, mount a wire rack to a cabinet or wall that hooks may be hung from. This is especially convenient for frying pans which a frequently used and lie fairly flush next to the cabinet side when stored in this manner.
Lids, Lids and Lids
For most pans, the lids are used less often than the pan. So, the pan and lid get separated from one another, until the lid slides backward into the abyss at the back of the cupboard. Keep your lids handy by placing lid hooks inside your cupboard doors. These handy hooks each hold a lid flush against the inside of a door, conveniently and without using any of the valuable shelf space inside the cupboard.
If your cupboard doors are not conducive to hooks, try a lid drawer. Place all of your pan lids in a low drawer; if there is a drawer underneath your oven or stove, it is usually well-suited for lids.
Have cupboard space for lids, but just want to keep them from sliding around? Place the lids in a dishpan or other plastic box on a shelf in your pan cupboard. Rather than placing them flat, stand them on their sides, from smallest to largest. This makes it easier to find the lid you need. An inexpensive dishrack placed in the cupboard also works well for this purpose.
Less Used Items
Do you have a stock pot or roaster that is only used a couple times a year, if that often? If you are tight on kitchen storage space, consider assigning these less commonly used items to storage outside the kitchen. A high shelf in a coat closet or laundry room may be the ideal place to keep the roaster safe without using valuable real estate near the kitchen stove.
Mix and match these storage solutions to make your kitchen more organized, efficient and a better place to cook.
